Movies In 2024

Last year, my boyfriend and I subscribed to our local theater’s monthly movie program where you can get discounted tickets and rollover free movie vouchers and stuff like that. We knew that there were a handful of movies coming out in 2023 that we wanted to see, so as long as we were seeing at least one movie together every other month, we’d be getting our money’s worth. And we did and it was all good.

Cut to now, 2024, and our subscription has been sadly canceled. We simply don’t feel like we’ll get good use out of it this year at all. Maybe you also saw this image floating around social media recently.

Obviously there are more than 30 movies coming out this year, but these are supposedly the big ones with franchise power and dates already attached. Of these movies, there are maybe only 5 that I’m fairly certain I’ll be in a theater to consume. And if I’m being honest, I’m fully expecting 3 or 4 of those to be mediocre at best, so I’m not even that excited for them.

Theaters and the state of movies are big talking points these days, and I am interested in the conversation for sure. The movie landscape has changed a lot in the past few decades with streaming taking to the point where some movies don’t even get a theatrical run. In terms of genres, we’ve seen the fall of romcoms and the rise of huge franchises in ways that have made people uneasy and tired. If you never had or no longer have an interest in superhero movies and the like, I can understand why you’re not thrilled with the way things have been. I see a lot of complaints online about how we need to give money to smaller, more creative movies instead of giving several billion to Disney for yet another superhero flick. And while I do fully understand that sentiment, I do like the superhero movies, and do want to still see them. Lately they’ve been kind of bad, but my boyfriend and I will still go.

Because honestly, I enjoy even a mediocre superhero movie more than I do some of the artsy Oscar movies I’ve seen in the last few years. I do make an effort to watch a few awards movies every year, and very few enthrall me. Most of them are just too weird and edgy for my taste. I respect creativity and telling stories that haven’t been done over and over again, but some of those movies are really just not for me. But they clean up at the awards circuit, so I guess they’re someone’s cup of tea. It’s weird that the movies that do the best at the box office often don’t get any recognition at the awards shows. Is the system broken? Maybe.

Superhero movies and musicals are all I go see in theaters because I at least more or less know what I’m going to get. I’m totally willing to see other movies that I know less about or could surprise me, but not at the current price of tickets. I’ll do it for free at my house. Between opening weekend upcharges to online booking fees to the deliberate lack of cheaper morning movies, it costs over $30 for two people to see a movie nowadays here in Canada, and that is simply disgusting to me. Don’t even get me started on the price of concessions at theaters.

Besides, movies don’t last long in theaters anyway these days. They hit streaming platforms within a few months, so view them for cheaper that way. Or find them online illegally (I’m not sorry) or borrow the DVD from the library.

Whether it’s price or the lack of urgency or the comfort of seeing movies at home (like with subtitles) or simply a mediocre selection of movies out, I’m not surprised that there are reports of theaters struggling. I’m not surprised that my boyfriend and I canceled our movie subscription. I’m not surprised that the movie landscape has changed. Barbenheimer (Barbie/Oppenheimer) was a fun event that proved that a) people are willing to go to theaters if they want to, and b) non-superhero/non-franchise movies still have a chance, but I think that social media had fun with this particular release pairing, and I don’t think we’ll see the same passion and hype ever again in the same way.

What 2024 movie are you most looking forward to? How often do you go to the movies?

 

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